The following contains spoilers for Titans Season 4, Episode "Mother Mayhem," now streaming on HBO Max.
Titans Season 4 appears to be incorporating a powerful aspect of Raven's character, one seen in the animated Teen Titans cartoon.
The HBO Max series released its two-episode premiere on Nov. 3, the latter of the two titled "Mother Mayhem." Towards the end of the episode, the Titans go up against the titular villain, played by Franka Potente, and their defeat causes a major change for Rachel Roth aka Raven (Teagan Croft). Rachel is left unconscious after the battle, her hair turned white and her red forehead gem gone, which may be Titans' way of adapting White Raven for the show.
In animation, White Raven is a powerful version of the character that can result when Raven is separated from the influence of her demonic father, Trigon. Raven dons her White look a few times in the Teen Titans cartoon from the early 2000s, including the show's three-episode "The End" story arc in Season 4. After Trigon successfully takes over the Earth and turns it into a fiery hellscape, White Raven is rescued by Robin and learns to harness her full potential, unleashing her power to destroy her father and revert the entire world back to normal.
Teen Titans' White Raven, Explained
White Raven appears similarly within the DC Animated Movie Universe. In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020), after Trigon's spirit is drawn out of Raven by John Constantine, she uses her magic to heal a dying Damian Wayne, turning her into White Raven. As for Titans, because Raven's forehead gem goes missing, this could mean she is now fully cut off from her father, as depicted in other media.
Some believe Titans may be drawing from Teen Titans comics' "Raven Rising" arc written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Michael McKone, which focuses on Raven and the villain Brother Blood (Joseph Morgan), who is primed to be a core antagonist of Season 4. In the comics, the Titans learn that the devil the Church of Blood worships is none other than Trigon. Raven, reborn and purified, is depicted as White Raven in the arc, who Sebastian Blood ceremonially marries and controls as a means of summoning Trigon's demonic army on Earth.
Trigon (Seamus Dever) was the antagonist of Titans' very first season, lurking in the background until he finally appeared in the episode "Koriand'r." Rachel seemingly destroyed her father in the Season 2 premiere, "Trigon," and he has yet to be seen since.
The first two episodes of Titans Season 4 and prior seasons are available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes release weekly on Thursdays.
Source: Titans